Health workers in Kisumu down tools over unpaid salaries

Healthcare workers in Kisumu County save for doctors have made good their threats and kept off their places of work over salary arrears and promotions by the county government.

Clinicians, nurses, lab technologists amongst others have vowed to carry out a salary parade every day until the county government of Kisumu yields to pressure.

Maurice Opetu, who represents Kenya National Union of Nurse (KNUN) Kisumu branch says the timeline the court gave out for addressing issues affecting the healthcare workers has lapsed.

He said the workers have no option but commence industrial action that will paralyze healthcare in all the public hospitals within the county.

In June, Kisumu Industrial Court Judge Nduma Nderi directed the county government to effect the promotion of workers by the end of the month and pay arrears backdated  to July 2019.

Opetu now says the county government has failed to honour the directive by the court setting the stage for another round of strikes to compel the county to act.

He explained that over 500 health workers were not paid their June salaries,  noting that it should not be tied to the impasse on revenue allocation in the Senate.

In a circular by the county secretary Godfrey Kigochi to heads of departments, all salaries to county workers were to be paid by Wednesday but the health workers have reported no shilling in their accounts yet.